Uber puts tests of self-driving cars on hold after pedestrian is killed in Arizona

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This March 19, 2018 still image taken from video provided by ABC-15, shows investigators at the scene of a fatal accident involving a self driving Uber car on the street in Tempe, Ariz. Police in the city of Tempe said Monday that the vehicle was in autonomous mode with an operator behind the wheel when the woman walking outside of a crosswalk was hit. (ABC-15.com via AP)

In what is believed to be the first death of a pedestrian hit by a self-driving car on a public street, a woman in Tempe, Arizona, was killed in an accident involving an Uber autonomous vehicle Sunday night — and Uber immediately suspended its testing of such vehicles.

Elaine Herzberg, 49, was struck as she walked from west to east outside of a crosswalk, according to Tempe police. Herzberg was then transported to a local hospital, where she died. Police said the incident was still part of an active investigation and that Uber is assisting with the matter.

The incident comes at a particularly inopportune time for self-driving car companies in California: The state is set to allow autonomous cars, without any human support behind the wheel, for testing and transporting people on public roads beginning April 2.

Herzberg’s death prompted a call Monday for a nationwide suspension of self-driving car tests on public roads from a group that has criticized the rapid roll-out of such testing.

But while the California Department of Motor Vehicles said Monday it would seek information from Uber about the deadly Arizona crash, it didn’t say whether it would postpone the April 2 start of autonomous car tests in California without any human support behind the wheel.

Uber confirmed the Arizona accident occurred and that there was a person in a front passenger seat acting as operator of the vehicle. The giant San Francisco-based startup said that as a result of the accident, it is putting a hold on all tests involving its self-driving cars. In addition to Arizona, the ride-sharing company has been running tests of self-driving cars in San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Toronto.

Uber said it has more than 200 self-driving cars as part of its autonomous vehicle testing program.

“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident,” said an Uber spokesperson in a statement provided to this news organization.

John Simpson, privacy and technology project director at the nonpartisan group Consumer Watchdog, which has been critical of rapid growth of the self-driving car technology industry, said the fatality “underscores the difficulty robot cars have in interacting with pedestrians and cyclists.” He called for an immediate national moratorium on the testing of self-driving cars on public roads until an independent analysis of what caused the accident can be completed.

“Arizona has been the wild west of robot car testing, with virtually no regulations in place,” Simpson said. “That’s why Uber and (Alphabet-owned) Waymo test there. When there’s no sheriff in town, people get killed.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said it is sending a team of four investigators to Tempe to look into the factors surrounding the accident.

The California DMV also said it plans to seek answers from Uber, though it stopped short of saying whether the crash would affect plans for testing on public roads of self-driving cars with no human support behind the wheel.

“The California DMV takes the safe operation of our autonomous vehicle permit holders very seriously,” the agency said in a statement. “The California DMV has many requirements in place for testing permit holders and requires collision reports and annual disengagement reports. We are aware of the Uber crash in Arizona, but we have not been briefed on the details of the crash at this time. We plan to follow up with Uber to get more information.”

Tim Bajarin, president of tech consultancy Creative Strategies, said Sunday’s fatality shows that the technology behind autonomous vehicles is “by no means ready for prime time,” despite all the attention and investment being given to it.

“This underlines that this technology is still years away from being safe enough to use in real-world settings,” he said. “We need a lot more in the way of technological breakthroughs before autonomous vehicles ever hit the road in a broad way.”